Hawks sign-and-trade Josh Childress to Suns

Posted by
Inside Hoops

Jul
14

The Phoenix Suns today acquired swingman Josh Childress in a sign-and-trade deal with the Atlanta Hawks, the club has announced. In exchange, Atlanta receives the Suns’ 2012 second-round draft pick. Childress has signed a five-year contract.

“Josh is a tremendous athlete who can play multiple positions,” said Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry. “We think he is going to be a great perimeter defender who can bring a lot on the offensive end as well with his ability to slash. Josh will add a lot to our team because he is so multitalented.”

The Suns’ agreement with the 6-8, 210-pound swingman means Childress will return to the NBA in 2010-11 after spending the last two seasons with Greek club Olympiacos, the most successful basketball franchise in Greece and a traditional European powerhouse, where he signed following the 2007-08 NBA season. Most recently, Childress led Olympiacos to a 23-3 record in Greek League play in 2009-10 and a berth in the Greek League Finals. Childress averaged a team-leading 15.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in Greek League action last season and also posted 15.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in Euroleague play.

The 27-year-old Childress owns four years of NBA experience, all with the Hawks, and career averages of 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 31.3 minutes in 285 games (67 starts). He is a career 52.2-percent shooter from the field, including 36.0 percent from three-point range, who has averaged double-digit scoring in all four of his NBA campaigns.

Childress last played in the NBA in 2007-08 when he was the top reserve on an upstart Atlanta Hawks team that ended an eight-year playoff drought and pushed the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics to seven games in their opening round series. That season, he averaged 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 29.9 minutes in 76 games, all off the bench, while shooting an impressive 57.1 percent from the field.

Originally selected by the Hawks with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Childress was a three-year performer at Stanford where he became the first Pac-10 Player of the Year in school history in 2003-04. Childress led the school to three NCAA tournament appearances and the 2003-04 Pac-10 title.